ABSTRACT
South Korea has endured a turbulent political history since the end of World War II. President Sygnman Rhee’s authoritarian regime of the First Republic was toppled by a student uprising in 1960. The state budget includes provisions for lump sum payments to political parties. Besides the Political Funds Law, the legal codes concerning political parties and elections regulate political finance, especially election campaign spending. As prescribed by the Funds Law, political parties annually report their income and expenditure to the Central Election Management Committee. From the year 1987 on, designated, rather than non-designated, contributions have become dominant. In the Sixth Republic, a total of 81,649 million won were entrusted and channeled to political parties. The rival parties are all aware of the problems involved in South Korean political financing, and in principle do not disagree on the necessity of solving them. But the opposing groups differ significantly in their proposed solutions to the prevailing patterns of political funding.
